Shipping Up To Boston
by jada jasmine
Summary: Carter is in his roommate’s best friend’s older brother’s frat house at Harvard University when he sees Blair Waldorf for the first time in three years. Ca/B.


**There she goes again, there she goes again. **

**The La's**

--

Carter is in his roommate's best friend's older brother's frat house at Harvard University when he sees Blair Waldorf for the first time in three years.

Someone's playing beer pong on the dining room table, and Jimi Hendrix is drifting through the speakers blasting 'Voodoo Child' while he's smoking after ingesting God knows what kinds of other illegal substances.

(Yes, he knows, he gave up traveling for a stable career and a degree in Business from Harvard. That doesn't mean he can't indulge in his favorite pasttimes.)

Still, even he isn't nearly enough out of it to not notice the Blair Waldorf sitting primly on the edge of a bar stool, daintily sipping out of the only glass he sees in the entire room, rolling her eyes whenever a guy walks up to her.

His roommate Logan passes the bong his way again, and Carter takes one last hit.

He turns around and Blair Waldorf is gone.

--

He doesn't see her again for five weeks, three days, and seven hours almost to the tee.

This time, it's at his favorite restaurant in Harvard Square.

This time, she sees him too.

"Carter Baizen, I never would've imagined you'd be settling for an imitation instead of going off to get the original."

He shrugs, complete with hand gestures.

"Well, if I want to take over Baizen Industries I can hardly be gallivanting all over Thailand looking for the perfect chicken Pa-Nang curry."

Her blond friend tugs on her arm, wanting an introduction of some sort, and Carter has to do a double take.

He is fleetingly reminded of sex, Santorini, and Serena but Blair consumes the rest of his thoughts before he can bring Serena's last name to the forefront of his mind.

When he finally snaps out of it, Blair's friend is not waiting to be introduced but begging Blair to get out of the restaurant and go home already.

He doesn't know where she lives, what her number is, even what she's doing here but he wants to see her again.

"Oh, beautiful?"

Blair turns around, all porcelain skin and chocolate curls and dark red dress.

"How about you let me buy you a drink?"

Her left eyebrow raises, and her smile holds a secret for him.

"How about you try harder?"

She leaves before he can answer.

--

After much investigating and what could potentially construed as stalking, he figures out where the hell she came from.

Majoring in art history, transferred from Columbia as a sophomore, and currently living in Lowell House.

Logan laughs at him one day when he comes home from flirting with an administrative assistant in order to gain information.

"You're completely whipped and you don't even know this girl!"

Carter thinks about cotillion, silver gowns, secret smiles, and ruby red lips. He's not even trying to pretend it's just about getting a good fuck.

"Go back to California already."

--

One morning after Blair's Skills and Methods in Chinese Painting History class, there's a package on her doorstep.

It's Carter Baizen.

"I think I've been putting all the effort into our relationship thus far, and I feel that now it's your turn."

Her left eyebrow raises again, and he didn't think it was possible for an eyebrow to turn him on but boy was he wrong.

"Pick me up at seven. Don't be late. I'm wearing navy. Don't clash."

She's still the one who walks away first.

--

When he goes to pick her up, he meets the blonde roommate whose name is Kelly.

"Um, Blair wants you to wait downstairs. Oh yeah, I'm Kelly."

He doesn't think he's ever put so much effort into anything in his life apart from trying not to die during various travels so he agrees.

She walks down the stairs instead of taking the elevator and he thinks the sight of her legs in a short navy dress might kill him.

"You're five minutes late, gorgeous."

She bats her eyelashes in a way that should be illegal, and laughs when she says, "I'm sure you'll forgive me."

She's right. He does.

--

She's wearing five-inch patent leather red Christian Louboutin stilettos and complains when he announces that they're walking to the restaurant.

"Carter, these shoes could feed three of the Third World countries that you're so fond of traipsing around. Like hell am I walking anywhere in them besides from the car door to the restaurant."

"C'mon, the sky matches your dress. Plus, the sight of the stars make me dream."

"You stole that from Van Gogh! You'll have to be more creative Casanova, I am an art history major."

"Fine then. I guess we'll just have to take my car."

He does the grand arm-sweeping gesture to reveal a midnight-blue 1967 Rolls Royce Phantom complete with driver.

"Thank God," she mutters as she walks towards the car, leaving Carter laughing in her wake.

--

They dine at L'Espalier at the Chef's Table while sipping on the perfect merlot.

Each orders the three course prix fixe.

He notices she has three bites of her appetizer, two bites of her salad, and one bite of her main entrée while completely neglecting the chocolate cake he ordered to share.

He doesn't say anything but tells her she looks perfect when she puts her napkin down to go to the bathroom.

Her smile is offset by the doubt in her eyes, but she stays where she is and teases him about a run-in he had with a Cambodian prostitute who turned out to be a guy.

Thank you, Gossip Girl.

--

When he walks her up to her room, she hesitates outside the door.

Her brown eyes lock with his blue ones and her gaze drops to his mouth.

She leans in first, eyes closed and lips pouted in a way that is sexy and adorable and way too breathtaking to pass up.

They kiss but Blair pulls away first with that damn secretive smile.

He realizes he'd do just about anything to figure it out.

--

Blair gets inside her dorm room and counts to thirty before jumping up and down as well as she can in her heels.

Kelly calls her a spaz.

Blair rolls her eyes and calls Serena.

--

Carter opens the door to his brownstone to find a tiny little blond person staring at him.

He gets the feeling this girl could seriously kick his ass.

"Is Logan here?"

Logan walks up and his face lights up but breaks into a million pieces at the same time and Carter figures out that this is epic and murder and Veronica Mars.

He slides out the door and makes his way over to Blair's. Even though they haven't had another official dinner date in the past two weeks there have been breakfasts and lunches and study dates and once, Blair took him shopping.

He knocks on the door and is greeted by a leggy blonde who all but tumbles out of the door while in a sheer nightie.

Apparantly, it's an invasion of the blonde body-snatchers in Boston.

"Serena?"

"Carter?"

She straightens out her attire, runs a hand through her hair, and bites her lip when she looks at him.

"Blair's in the bathroom. You can wait in here if you want."

His heart skips a few beats when she opens the door wider and points to Blair's bed. She sits on Kelly's bed and they just stare at each other.

The fact that once upon a time he loved this girl runs through his head over and over and over again until he thinks it might drive him insane.

She licks her lips, and he can't stop staring until Blair walks in clothed in a towel with wet hair.

Serena has never known what second best taste feels smells hears looks like; he tells himself that's the reason her face falls when his lights up.

Ralph Lauren knows how to make a towel.

--

After their fourth dinner date, Blair slams Carter against the elevator in his building and wraps her legs around his waist.

She undoes his Brooks Brothers tie with a lighting fast ability, and living in the penthouse has never been more inconvenient.

Twelve floors later her hair is mussed and his top three buttons are undone and he finally reaches the door of his apartment.

The sound of Blair moaning when he kisses her right in between her collar bone and shoulder certainly delays him a few seconds.

When he finally opens the door, her dress is the first thing to go.

--

Blair's on the phone with Serena when he walks over to give her the venti caramel macchiato with no foam and fat-free milk from Starbucks and he overhears the word 'love'.

He holds his breath, because he didn't think that he was ready to say that yet, but since she brought it up first, he doesn't know why he hadn't thought of it before.

She's finally noticed he's right behind her and hurriedly hangs up with an affectionate "Bye, S."

"So what's Serena having problems with now?"

Blair laughs, because everyone knows Serena can't do anything for herself.

"Nothing. It's Chuck turn to deal with it. She's thinking of telling Nate she loves him and wanted to clear it with me first."

Carter's a little relieved but mostly just disappointed it wasn't about him. He's just as narcissistic as Blair, and his ego does feel a little wounded.

"So, are you?"

Blair scoffs, and takes a sip of her drink.

"Of course I am. Did you know that in lower school Nate made Serena a valentine for every single day in February? He put more effort into second grade for Serena than he did all ten years we were dating."

Carter knows he has nothing to worry about, but he lifts Blair's chin and kisses her hard anyways.

--

He has this whole great plan about saying it. Honestly.

There's dinner and stargazing and Audrey involved.

But he blurts it out one morning when she's trying to make pancakes in one of his blue button downs.

And by trying, he means she attempted to turn the griddle on. Needless to say, it doesn't go well and she demands he makes her breakfast.

"Ok, but only because I love you."

He freezes and she freezes because he's never said it first (never said it all really) and she's never heard it first.

"I love you, too."

He let out the breath he was holding and falls back onto the bed when Blair stares at him with a glint in her eye and no clothes on.

God, he loves this girl.

--

Blair opens her door, clad in a perfectly crisp white Prada sleeveless blouse and emerald green Zac Posen high waisted skirt to see Chuck Bass with a purple ascot in his suit pocket.

The first thing she can think of is Barney and she grimaces, which he takes the wrong way.

"Blair. It isn't just a game. It never was. I love you."

She thinks he's two seconds away from pulling a Meredith Grey but instead he apologizes. People don't surprise her, especially Chuck, but he manages to do the impossible as usual.

"I'm sorry."

She looks at this boy who's grown up into a man with sad brown eyes and her heart breaks. He cried in her arms and left her in the morning and compared her to a racehorse. He took her virginity and her love and everything she could possibly give him but never gave anything in return.

She says no, he leaves, and she cries into her pillow.

It still hurts, but she fixes her makeup and calls Carter and knows that she loves this man more.

--

"Chuck came to my door this morning."

His head snaps up so fast she mutters under her breath about the dangers of whiplash.

"And?"

"And, he apologized. Said that he was sorry for loving me the wrong way. That I deserved more. That he was willing to try if I gave him the chance."

Carter's throat could be closing up, he's not entirely sure, but Blair isn't making eye contact and his pen is pressed so hard against the paper it's made a hole.

There's something a lot like love and pride and admiration in her voice when she says, "He's doing quite well with Bass Industries. Did you know the stocks gone up three percent? And in this market, too."

She seems to be talking more to herself than to him, and he waits for her to dump him already.

"I told him I was extremely proud of him, but that I couldn't do it. I said whenever he needed a friend or a partner to take someone down that I'd pack up the beret, but that's all."

Her voice quavers a little on 'that's all' and he's not sure if she's going to start crying. She doesn't and kisses him softly instead, his favorite song playing in the background from her laptop.

--

It's two weeks before finals and he really should be in class. So should Blair for that matter.

But instead of waking up first, she drew circles on his chest with her index finger and sighed while looking at him with puppy dog eyes.

So instead of going to class, he stays in bed and kisses Blair Waldorf all day long.

(Yes, he knows, he gave up traveling for a stable career and a degree in Business from Harvard. That doesn't mean he can't indulge in his favorite pasttimes.)

--

**AN: So there it is. First Ca/B. Although hopefully not the last. I couldn't resist throwing in a little N/S, Ca/S, and C/B seeing as how all four are my bread and butter of GG. I hope I got Blair right, it's my first time with her and I find Serena easier to write. Title courtesy of Augustana, and of course I own nothing. Please review!!**


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